Sherwood's wife says LaFrance was the first to detail crime

Thursday

Sep 12, 2013 at 2:00 AMSep 12, 2013 at 8:31 AM

MONTICELLO — Scott Sherwood's wife, Elise Hanlon, testified on Wednesday that murder defendant Paul Novak told her details of Catherine Novak's killing about two weeks after Catherine was found dead in the burned-out rubble of her Lava home.

Victor Whitman

MONTICELLO — Scott Sherwood's wife, Elise Hanlon, testified on Wednesday that murder defendant Paul Novak told her details of Catherine Novak's killing about two weeks after Catherine was found dead in the burned-out rubble of her Lava home.

Hanlon said she approached Novak and pressed him for details, worried about Sherwood's involvement. Novak reassured her that Sherwood did not participate in the killing and was waiting in the red Blazer parked near the house.

"He told me "» 'We are good. No one would know, that this whole thing was him,'" she said.

Asked by Sullivan County District Attorney Jim Farrell why she withheld the information for so long, Hanlon replied, "I was trying to protect Scott as well as Paul."

Novak is on trial in Sullivan County Court, charged with first-degree murder and other crimes. He is accused of killing his estranged wife and then burning down the home to cover up the crime and gain financially.

Sherwood has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, in exchange for a three- to 12-year prison sentence. He has already testified against Novak, admitting to knowing about the plot to kill Catherine about week prior to her death and driving his then Jamaica Hospital paramedic partner from Glen Cove up to the far western Sullivan County hamlet of Lava.

Hanlon, a Fire Department of New York lieutenant and paramedic, said Novak's then lover, Michelle LaFrance, was the first to tell her the details of the crime. LaFrance came to her office about a week after Catherine's death on Dec. 13, 2008. LaFrance also spoke to her on the phone.

Hanlon said LaFrance told her that Novak tried to put a cloth soaked with chloroform over Catherine's mouth but ended up choking her in a struggle, and setting the house on fire.

Hanlon said she knew Sherwood was with Novak on the night of Dec. 12, 2008. He had told her that he was going upstate to help Novak move some furniture out of the Lava home.

After she found out that Catherine had died in a fire, Hanlon said, Sherwood wouldn't tell her anything. So she spoke with LaFrance.

"My concern was Scott's participation in this," Hanlon said. "I was concerned my boyfriend at the time had been with him and would be arrested."

During his cross examination, defense lawyer Gary Greenwald played sections of Hanlon's taped interview with state police where she initially denied knowing anything. Hanlon acknowledged that she felt pressured to give information. As the interviewed progressed, Hanlon started recalling what she knew and signed a statement. She also testified before a grand jury.

Greenwald also played a recording of a fall 2012 meeting in his office with Hanlon. On that tape, Hanlon expresses concern she might perjure herself if called to testify at a future trial.

Greenwald suggested that Hanlon was worried about perjury because she told authorities that Paul Novak spoke to her about the murder. Greenwald asked Hanlon if she in fact got all her information about the murder from LaFrance, and never spoke to Novak.

Hanlon replied that she did talk to Novak. She said she was worried about committing perjury because Greenwald asked her at that meeting to forget her conversation with Novak. On the tape, Greenwald says, "I prefer that you say you don't have a recollection."

Greenwald also again raised a defense theory that Sherwood and LaFrance were involved in a sexual relationship and the two went upstate together and committed the murder. Under his questioning, Hanlon admitted that she couldn't absolutely be sure if the two were having an affair, but doubted it. Both Sherwood and LaFrance have testified they were never involved.